Intro to SURF FISHING

Introduction to SURF FISHING - by TheFishingShack.com

There is an old saying “To defeat your enemy you must know your enemy”. The same can be said about fishing “to catch your quarry you must know your quarry”. Here is collection of tips, tricks and techniques for finding and catching your quarry and hopefully your quota when fishing from the beach or surf.

Most people don't get to fish everyday and with today's ultra busy lifestyles we like to capitalize on the “fun” times. We don't want to waste time trying to remember what we caught last year at this time and what we used to catch it, so I've put together a collection of information to help get you to the water and to the fish faster.

Over 20 year's of surf fishing, reading about surf fishing and talking about surf fishing is condensed here into a collection of “Cheat Sheets” to take out some of the guess work. Part of the excitement of fishing is the unknown and no one can predict exactly what you'll catch, when you'll catch it or how you'll catch it, but this collection will certainly increase your odds of catching your quarry.

And the end you'll find an "Anglers Log" that you can make copies of and keep a record of your trips and catches that you can refer back to.

What equipment do I need? Some beaches allow motorized vehicles to drive one the beach. If the beach your going to allows it a four wheel drive truck is really handy. They can be equipped with rod racks that can carry and hold your fishing rods already set up and ready to cast. You can carry beach chairs, coolers, food and tackle right to your fishing spot with ease. A four wheel drive is recommended when driving on sand and the air pressures in the tires should be lowered, usually down to between 24-28psi. This will increase the size of the tires "footprint" which will help it ride on top of the sand and not dig into it and get you stuck. As far as tires go fatter tires with less aggressive treads usually work best. I've seen people in station wagons on pretty much bald tires driving around on the sand like a tank on dry ground. For night fishing the vehicle can be equipped with lights although bright white lights are not recommended shining directly into the surf which can spook fish.

On beaches that don't allow recreational vehicles to drive on the beach a cart works really well. A cart can be purchased or made. Making a fishing cart is pretty simple. You can use a regular kids wagon and add pneumatic tires (tires with air) not the hard plastic ones, they don't travel over and thru sand well. A bucket or cooler, cutting board, a couple of sand spikes and your tackle box and you're equipped to tackle anything the sea is willing to give up that day.

Rods are pretty much up to personal preference and budget, a general rule of thumb is use the longest rod you are comfortably casting. The length is needed to cast the lure as far out as is possible. Usually the larger the person casting the longer the rod can be.

Sand spikes are recommended to hold your rod while waiting for a bite. A sand spike is a tube usually 18-54" long and 2" in diameter made from PVC or aluminum, either cut on angle at one end or with a spike for driving into the sand.

A good knife and cutting board and your ready to go catch dinner.

There are normally two sandbars and two troughs that run parallel to the beach. Sandbars can be located by the breakers (waves that crest and rollover away from the shoreline). Larger breakers will occur over the outer sandbar and smaller breakers will occur over the closer sandbar. The troughs are revealed by the waters between the sandbars there will be little to no breakers.

SURF FISHERMAN'S CHEAT SHEET

Surf tips

* The best time to surf fish is a rising tide especially around high tide, and especially if high tide occurs at either dawn or dusk.

* Scout potential areas to fish at low tide. Take note of any sandbars, sloughs, points, washouts any irregularity in land these are great spots to locate feeding fish when the tide comes in.

* Looking for birds feeding in the surf or on the surface is a great trick to locate schools of feeder fish or feeding fish. If you see birds circling up high it might be a school of bait fish swimming deep if they are making low passes it means the fish are close to the surface. The size of the birds can be a hint to the size of the fish beneath them too.

* The formula for figuring out the weight of a fish, is: (girth" x girth") x length"/800 - or girth in inches squared times length in inches divided by 800. The number in front of the decimal will be pounds and if you take the number after the decimal and divide by 16 you'll get the ounces.

* Don't set you hook unless the line is tight, it will increase your odds for a solid hook set.

* Find a high spot, a dune, a hotel balcony, a hill, a tree, etc. at low tide and scout your spot for structure, sand bars rocks stumps any kind of structure, slough or current. During low tide is a great time to locate potentially good areas that may hold fish.

* .... Add intelligence to your luck.

* watch the barometer: falling barometric pressure is a danger sign for mariners. Rising pressure is a plus for fisherman.

RED DRUM FISHERMAN'S CHEAT SHEET

Identification:

Silvery-Gold body with a red or copper tinge, grayish white to yellow belly and one or more dark spots on tail, squared tail fin.

AKA:

Redfish or channel bass

Size:

Average 20-30" can get to 90lbs and up to 5'

Habitat:

Adults are usually found near the shoreline although they inhabit inshore and offshore water. They will normally school near the water’s surface.

Young juveniles are commonly found in the shallows, rivers, bays canals and creeks using sea grasses as nursery grounds. Puppy drum are commonly caught over sandbars and mudflats and oyster bars, and will move into wetlands during high tides.

Food:

Smaller fish like anchovies, menhaden, mullet, anchovies, inshore lizard fish as well as crabs, mole crabs and shrimp. Adults feed mostly on fish in the winter and spring and change to crabs during the summer and fall.

Season:

Can be found in the Chesapeake Bay from May-November. Adults are common near the mouth of the Bay during Spring and Fall, when the coastal population migrates.

Outer Banks Mid April -November.

World Record:

The current world record was caught In 1984, by a Virginia man, David Deuel. It measured 59-inches long and weighed 94 lbs 2 oz. (42.69 kg) and was caught off the coast in Avon NC on November 7, 1984.

Fishing Tips:

Natural:

Live bait like mullet, croakers and mud minnows or cut bait on a fish finder rig.

Float a live shrimp under a popping cork.

Artificial:

Assorted soft plastic bodied jigs.

For shallow redfish in clear water and low to no wind try using a soft body bait like a shad body combined with a flashy spinner.

Gold spoons. Top water lures that resemble mullet like Heddon Spook & Mirr-O-Lure in shallows and near drop offs. Lipless crankbaits like Rat-L-Traps around rocks & jetties.

Equipment:

BLUEFISH FISHERMAN'S CHEAT SHEET

Identification:

Blueish green color on the back fading to a silvery white belly, torpedo shaped body with a deep forked tail and knife like teeth.

AKA:

Tailor, Snapper, Baby blues, Choppers, Elfs.

Young bluefish are called snappers.

Big bluefish are called choppers.

Size:

Rarely exceed 20 pounds and 40 inches in length.

Habitat:

Bluefish spawn in the open ocean. After eggs have hatched, larvae develop into juveniles near the surface over the continental shelf. Juveniles move to estuaries and near shore shelf habitats. They prefer sandy bottoms but can be found around mud, silt, or clay bottoms or vegetated areas. Adults live in both inshore and offshore areas and favor warmer water.

Food:

They will eat a variety of small-bodied animals such as shrimp, small lobsters, crabs, larval fish and mollusks, bluefish, menhaden, squid, sand eels, herring, mackerel, alewives, scup, butterfish and cunners (basically everything). Bluefish generally feed in schools, and will feed on prey in tidal rips or in inshore shallows where food in easier to catch.

Season:

Along the U.S.'s east coast, bluefish are found off the coast of Florida in the winter months. By April, they are heading north. By June, they may be found off Massachusetts. Around October, they leave the waters north of New York and begin migrating south. Some less migratory bluefish, are found in the Gulf of Mexico year round.

In New Jersey, the bluefish show up in the spring around early May, and they stay all summer long and into October.

World Record:

The world record bluefish was caught by James M. Hussey on Jan 30, 1972 at Hatteras, NC. It weighed 31 pounds, 12 ounces.

Fishing for (tips & tricks):

Wire leaders are essential!

You can catch blues during the day; even in the summer. But, early morning and dusk are the best times to catch bluefish.

Red head white bodied Pencil plugs like the Sea Striker Gotcha plug are probably the number one bluefish lure especially when fishing from piers and bridges. Red head with silver or gold bodies do well too.

Silver and gold spoons like Russelures 6 1/2"  Metal Wobble Trolling Lures trolled from a boat.

Bomber Saltwater Grade A-Salt Shallow Crank-bait in Dark Green Mackerel colors are great in shallower inshore waters.

STRIPED BASS FISHERMAN'S CHEAT SHEET

Identification:

AKA:

Striper, linesider, pimpfish, rock, and rockfish,

Size:

World Record: 

The world record striped bass is 81 lbs 14 oz (37.14kg) caught by Greg Myerson on August 4, 2011 in Long Island Sound, Westbrook, CT. and was caught on a live eel.

The previous record was caught by Al McReynolds on the Vermont Ave Jetty, in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 21, 1982 and weighed 78-pound 8-ounces was 53 inches long 34 1/3 inches in girth Girth 34 ½ inches it was caught on a Rebel 5-½" Black-back Silver Minnow.

Habitat:

*Striper are migratory fish and seek water temperatures between 45°F and 65°F.

*Striper normally always hit an eel head first, blue fish always hit eels tail first.

* The formula for figuring out the weight of a fish, is: (girth" x girth") x length"/800 - or girth in inches squared times length in inches divided by 800.

The number in front of the decimal will be pounds and if you take the number after the decimal and divide by 16 you'll get the ounces.

Food:

Season:

Fishing Tips:

Natural:

Artificial:

FLOUNDER FISHERMAN'S CHEAT SHEET

Identification: 

Flat body dark topside with both eyes on topside and light underside with medium squared tail.

- The Southern Flounder is a "left-eyed flounder" which means both eyes or the darks side of the fish is on the left side lacks the spots like the summer flounder.

- Summer Flounder is also a left-eyed flounder usually has 5-14 spots and can change coloring or camouflage to blend in with its surroundings. 

- Winter flounder are right-eyed and do not have teeth.

Size:

Typically 5"-25" and weigh 1 to 3 pounds,  though they may grow as large as 26 pounds.

World Record:

Southern Flounder is 20lbs 9ozs. 

Summer Flounder is 22lbs 7ozs.

Winter Flounder is 7 pounds.

Habitat:

Will lie flat on sandy and soft muddy bottoms near bridge and pier pilings around docks and coral reefs and wait to ambush prey as it moves overhead. They range from shallows to the Mariana Trench.

- Southern Flounders range is from North Carolina to the Yucatan Peninsula. 

- The summer flounders range is from Nova Scotia to Florida.

- Winter Flounder can be found from Labrador in Canada to Georgia. It is the most common near-shore (shallow-water) flounder. In the summer they'll move off shore into deeper waters, and in winter will move into shallow coastal estuaries rivers and bays.

Food:

Sand lance, menhaden, Atlantic silverside, mummichog, killifish, small bluefish, porgies, squid, shrimp, crabs, and small fish.

Season:

Fishing Tips:

Natural:

 live or cut baits on a bottom rig.

Artificials:

Artificial lures, or weighted jigs tipped with strip baits.

Equipment:

CROAKER FISHERMAN'S CHEAT SHEET

Identification:

AKA:

Size:

Habitat:

Food:

Season:

World Record:

Fishing Tips:

Natural:

Artificial:

SPOT FISHERMAN'S CHEAT SHEET

Spot are small, feisty fish with a distinctive black spot near the gill cover.

Identification: Spot have a bluish-gray body with a distinctive large, black spot near the gill cover. They have 12-15 dark, angled bars across their back. They have white bellies and forked tail.

AKA:

Size/Age: Usually 11-12" long. rarely lives longer than three years

World Record: The Chesapeake Bay record was caught in 1980 off Poquosion, Virginia and weighed 2.5 pounds.

Habitat: Show up in the Chesapeake Bay around April-May leave in November. Found in all depths. Can be found in schools around pilings, piers, jetties and even upstream into freshwater in rivers. Spawns from late September thru March over the continental shelf

Food: Spot have small mouths and are bottom-feeders. They normally feed on bloodworms, bristle worms, mollusks, crustaceans. Juveniles eat tiny crustaceans.

Seasonal habits:

Fishing Tips:

Natural:

Artificial:

Equipment:

Links to buy license online:

Maryland Fishing Licenses – https://www3.wildlifelicense.com/md/

Virginia Fishing Licenses – http://www.mrc.state.va.us/regulations/recfishh&l_licensing.shtm

North Carolina Fishing Licenses – http://www.ncwildlife.org/License/License_CRFL.htm